Tim O’Neill, who is seeking the right to run on the Democratic line in his bid to become Rockland County sheriff, issued a statement today regarding County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef’s news conference, held Tuesday at the Allison-Parris County Office Building in New City.

Vanderhoef called for the shutdown of the Sheriff’s Transport Unit and the elimination of the Narcotics Task Force in favor of merging its duties with the Sheriff’s Intelligence Unit and Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Vanderhoef is looking to trim expenses as the county grapples with a $51 million county budget deficit.

O’Neill will face Sheriff’s Department Chief Louis Falco in a primary, with the winner to face Republican candidate Matt Brennan in November.

HERE IS THE TEXT OF O’NEILL’S STATEMENT (verbatim):

Sheriff’s candidate Tim O’Neill is calling yesterday’s announcement by County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef to make cuts to several county agencies, specifically law enforcement, a knee jerk reaction by someone who is a politician, not a professional law enforcement officer. In addition, Tim O’Neill has publicly for years been calling for action, but Vanderhoef has waited until the county is facing a minimum $51 million dollar deficit to act. O’Neill is calling Vanderhoef’s cuts “too little, too late”. For years, Tim O’Neill has been critical of such chronic waste and has been committed to removing politics from the Sheriff’s Department as a way to rein in spending.

During the 2007 election, Tim O’Neill vigorously campaigned about the waste and duplication at the Sheriff’s Department. In four years, the problem has grown worse. As recent as last November, O’Neill spoke before the adoption of the 2011 county budget about the shortfalls in the Sheriff’s budget and “the smoke and mirrors” being presented to the Rockland County taxpayers (ref: public participation Dec 7th, 2010 RC Legislative minutes page 1290, (Tim O’Neill concerned about discrepancies in Sheriff’s Budget). O’Neill also spoke about the 2010 Sheriff’s budget that did not properly fund contractual obligations, that led one legislator to remark parts of the Sheriff’s budget were a “pipe dream” ( ref: June 30th 2010 County Public Safety Committee minutes).

Candidate Tim O’Neill is calling for new thinking in the Sheriff’s office, resulting in more service and a savings to the Rockland County taxpayer. O’Neill has been calling for revamping of the services of the Sheriff’s Department with the goal of putting specific law enforcement tasks under the Sheriff’s office and leaving the patrol functions to the local police. This will result in a true, real cost savings of tax dollars. In addition, the county executive’s cuts will only compound the problems because the Intelligence Task Force and the Narcotics Task Force are two of the most important units utilized by the local police. O’Neill knows the issues, as he served as director of the Intelligence Task Force for two years, in his over 34 years of police experience.

With Rockland County facing severe deficits in the coming years, Rockland County Sheriff Candidate Tim O’Neill (D) again pledged today and the same message he has said since announcing his candidacy, that he would cut the Sheriff budget by 5% in his first year of office. O’Neill is pledging again to cut his own pay by 5%.

“We need to spend smarter and make some tough choices, including real sacrifices to get the county back on firm financial footing,” said O’Neill. “But sacrifice needs to start at the top. That’s why I am pledging to cut my pay as Sheriff by 5%, and to stop the use of all Sheriff Department county cars for personal use.”

“When sacrifices are demanded, leadership must start at the top,” explained O’Neill. “As we look for other ways to cut costs, we cannot expect others to bear the brunt of this if we are not willing to make sacrifices ourselves. There is simply no justification to exempt elected officials and political appointees from sharing in the pain of difficult fiscal choices.”

O’Neill’s announcement comes less than 24 hours after Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef proposed closing the county budget gap.

“The next Sheriff is going to have to make many tough decisions in the coming years,” O’Neill concluded. “Cutting the pay for the Sheriff is the first, and likely the easiest, of many much tougher choices ahead. But I am committed to bringing new ideas to the department, so that we can give the people of Rockland County a Sheriff’s department they deserve at a cost they can afford.”

Tim O’Neill has worked in local law enforcement for more than 34 years, serving the people of Rockland County in multiple units and leading several top divisions. He is running for Rockland County Sheriff so that he can help protect Rockland families, while strengthening the community by working to rein in local taxes. He believes his experience will enable him to streamline the sheriff’s department and eliminate waste, while preserving important services and protecting the public.